Imagine your favorite book of all time. You probably have read it many times and could almost memorize it. Now imagine being arrested for having the book. The firemen are called, not to put out a fire, but to start one. The firemens job is to burn the books you keep.
That is the basic setting for the book Fahrenheit 451. Books are burned for they are thought to cause bad ideas in people. Books are said to cause people to be anti-social and to confuse the people. Therefore the government decided to burn every book, no matter what the book has in it or who wrote it.
Summary Guy Montag is a man in a future American society. He is a fireman, but instead of putting out fires he starts them. In this future society people aren't allowed to read books and don't think on their own. Montag goes thorugh his life never questioning they way things were until he meets a young girl named Clarisse McCellan. Clarisse thinks differently from all the other people Montag knows. Clarisse would talk to Montag everyday after he got done with his work and the fire station. Then one day Clarisse isn't there waiting for him after work. He later finds out from his wife that she was hit by a car and a couple of weeks ago and forgot to tell him.
Montag's wife, Mildred, wasn't of sound mind though. In the beginning of the story when he comes home from work he finds her passed out on her bed. He found an empty bottle of sleeping pills next to her and he calls the ambulance. She gets her stomach pumped and is safed. later that morning she had no memory of what she had done that night. Mildred also had an obsession with watching TV on TVs the size of walls. The programs she watches are interactive and get the watcher involved. She also always had an ear headset on that she listened to.
When Montag is called to a house for having books he starts to womder why he burns books. When they find the books at the house, Montag grabbed one of the books when they were spraying them with kerosene. The woman who owned the books wasn't leaving when they were going to burn the books. Montag tries to pull her out of the house as they are about to ignite the books. Instead the woman pulls out her own match and decides to be burned along with her books.
Montag begins to wonder more and more about the books he burns and starts to take them and hide them in an air conditioning vent in house. His boss Beatty notices that he hasn't been shoeing up for work and starts to tell him the reason why they burn books. Beatty said that people started to get angry with what was written in books. To make sure there would be no problems, the books all started to look the same. Everyone later decided to burn all books so there would be no conflicts with the people.
Montag remembers a person he met in park called Faber, the both of them decide that they are going to reproduce the books. They would go to a man who used to be a printer. He read one of his books to her wife and friend one night. The next morning Mildred called Beatty about him having books. Beatty arrested Montag for not burning the books. Montag escapes by burning Beatty and knocking out the other firemen and running away.
Montag later becomes friends with a group of people who have memorized many great books. "The Book Lovers" hoped that after the war over the books they would be able to allow books. While Montag is with The Book Lovers he has to memorize the Book of Ecclesiastes. Enemy jets later bomb the entire city and and destroy everything. Montag and his group of Book Lovers decide that they are going to rebuild society.
Why is it Outstanding
This book is on the Outstanding Books List because it really is outstanding. Ray Bradbury does an excellent job describing things and events in this book. The way he portrays whats going through Montag's mind is amazing. The story line of the book really keeps you going from cover to cover. After reading this book it really makes you thankful that we live in a society where we are able to express ourselves. You start to appreciate the freedom of speech and press that we are given. I would definately recommend this book to someone elso to read. It was amazing and I am glad that I got the opportunity to read this book. It would be really cool if they could make this book into an up to date movie. If it were a movie, more people would read the book. It would nice though, if they read it anyway without it being a movie.
Imagine your favorite book of all time. You probably have read it many times and could almost memorize it. Now imagine being arrested for having the book. The firemen are called, not to put out a fire, but to start one. The firemens job is to burn the books you keep.
That is the basic setting for the book Fahrenheit 451. Books are burned for they are thought to cause bad ideas in people. Books are said to cause people to be anti-social and to confuse the people. Therefore the government decided to burn every book, no matter what the book has in it or who wrote it.
Summary
Guy Montag is a man in a future American society. He is a fireman, but instead of putting out fires he starts them. In this future society people aren't allowed to read books and don't think on their own. Montag goes thorugh his life never questioning they way things were until he meets a young girl named Clarisse McCellan. Clarisse thinks differently from all the other people Montag knows. Clarisse would talk to Montag everyday after he got done with his work and the fire station. Then one day Clarisse isn't there waiting for him after work. He later finds out from his wife that she was hit by a car and a couple of weeks ago and forgot to tell him.
Montag's wife, Mildred, wasn't of sound mind though. In the beginning of the story when he comes home from work he finds her passed out on her bed. He found an empty bottle of sleeping pills next to her and he calls the ambulance. She gets her stomach pumped and is safed. later that morning she had no memory of what she had done that night. Mildred also had an obsession with watching TV on TVs the size of walls. The programs she watches are interactive and get the watcher involved. She also always had an ear headset on that she listened to.
When Montag is called to a house for having books he starts to womder why he burns books. When they find the books at the house, Montag grabbed one of the books when they were spraying them with kerosene. The woman who owned the books wasn't leaving when they were going to burn the books. Montag tries to pull her out of the house as they are about to ignite the books. Instead the woman pulls out her own match and decides to be burned along with her books.
Montag begins to wonder more and more about the books he burns and starts to take them and hide them in an air conditioning vent in house. His boss Beatty notices that he hasn't been shoeing up for work and starts to tell him the reason why they burn books. Beatty said that people started to get angry with what was written in books. To make sure there would be no problems, the books all started to look the same. Everyone later decided to burn all books so there would be no conflicts with the people.
Montag remembers a person he met in park called Faber, the both of them decide that they are going to reproduce the books. They would go to a man who used to be a printer. He read one of his books to her wife and friend one night. The next morning Mildred called Beatty about him having books. Beatty arrested Montag for not burning the books. Montag escapes by burning Beatty and knocking out the other firemen and running away.
Montag later becomes friends with a group of people who have memorized many great books. "The Book Lovers" hoped that after the war over the books they would be able to allow books. While Montag is with The Book Lovers he has to memorize the Book of Ecclesiastes. Enemy jets later bomb the entire city and and destroy everything. Montag and his group of Book Lovers decide that they are going to rebuild society.
Why is it Outstanding
This book is on the Outstanding Books List because it really is outstanding. Ray Bradbury does an excellent job describing things and events in this book. The way he portrays whats going through Montag's mind is amazing. The story line of the book really keeps you going from cover to cover. After reading this book it really makes you thankful that we live in a society where we are able to express ourselves. You start to appreciate the freedom of speech and press that we are given. I would definately recommend this book to someone elso to read. It was amazing and I am glad that I got the opportunity to read this book. It would be really cool if they could make this book into an up to date movie. If it were a movie, more people would read the book. It would nice though, if they read it anyway without it being a movie.
Works Cited
"FAHRENHEIT 451 'Do You Ever Read the Books You Burn?." Youtube. Sept. 14 2007. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zz4LBnnbeh4
"Whole New Mind: English in the Flat World" Dec. 19 2007 http://eng506.wordpress.com/2007/12/19/fahrenheit-451-update/